Systems and methods of providing immutable records

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods of providing immutable records, and immutable ordering of records, in a computing system are disclosed. The computing system can be a member of a blockchain network of a plurality of blockchains. Each block can include a cryptographic digest (or hash) conforming to a minimum degree of difficulty, a nonce by which the cryptographic digest was generated in conformation with the degree of difficulty, and a list of cryptographic digests of most recent blocks of participating neighbor blockchains. Blocks may be passed between blockchains of the plurality of blockchains, which enables each member of the blockchain network to verify an immutable record of data transactions free of the mutual trust requirement of a typical blockchain environment. In conjunction with the generation of each block, an event record may be entered into an event log of the computing system wherein the block was generated. The event record, which may contain actionable instructions, requests, etc., may be transmitted to computing systems of participating neighbor blockchains, where actionable items may be acted upon. Further, the event logs of each computing system may be exchanged, compared, and adjusted to reflect the earliest appearance of each block of each participating neighbor blockchain.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/011,279, titled SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF PROVIDING IMMUTABLE RECORDS,filed Sep. 3, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/127,029, titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF PROVIDING IMMUTABLERECORDS,” filed Sep. 10, 2018, which claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/556,212, titled “Systems and methods ofdistributed dynamically changing state machines with provable orderingof events,” filed Sep. 8, 2017, and to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/693,870, titled “DETECTION OF ANOMALIES IN A COMPUTERSYSTEM,” filed Jul. 3, 2018, each of which is hereby incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to the field electronic ledgersfor record keeping, such as distributed ledgers provided by blockchain,and more particularly to systems and methods of providing immutablerecords.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present embodiments will become more fully apparent from thefollowing description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings. Understanding that the accompanying drawingsdepict only typical embodiments, and are, therefore, not to beconsidered limiting of the scope of the disclosure, the embodiments willbe described and explained with specificity and detail in reference tothe accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a block of a blockchain within a computing systemaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a cross-merkelizing blockchain network, accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure, comprising threeparticipating blockchains, namely a principal blockchain, a firstparticipating neighbor blockchain, and a second participating neighborblockchain.

FIG. 3A is a partial flow diagram illustrating cross-merkelization ofthe blocks from the participating neighbor blockchains within theprincipal blockchain of FIGS. 1-2 .

FIG. 3B is a partial flow diagram illustrating creation of a block.

FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating a geometrically progressing degree ofimmutability which may be achieved in a blockchain network, according toan embodiment of the present disclosure, such as the blockchain networkof FIGS. 1-3B.

FIG. 5 is a partial block diagram of operations executing within acomputing system, the diagram showing a principal blockchain and anevent log, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a detailed partial block diagram of operations of thecomputing system described in FIG. 5 , according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a vector clock of a blockchain network,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a detailed view of a portion of the vector clock of FIG. 7 .

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a computing system providing immutable records,according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Transactional record keeping, a business practice central to business,requires at least accuracy, accessibility, security and reliability.Technological advances both respond to and drive these demands. Computersystems (hardware and software) can facilitate, to a degree, accurate,accessible, secure, reliable transactional record keeping. A number ofaspects of computer-based transactional record keeping introduce bothnew advantages and weaknesses over older, traditional, pen-and-bookrecord keeping.

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods of providingimmutable records. Embodiments of the present disclosure can includedistributed dynamically changing state machines. The present disclosuremay include systems and methods to provide provable ordering of eventswithin and between such machines having interconnectivity/communicationwith one another. A dynamically changing state machine (e.g., acomputing system) may, for example, be used for transactional recordkeeping. Transactional record keeping inherently demands reliable,provable accuracy, including the order in which events, transactionaland otherwise, occurred and were recorded within the computing system. Ahardware or software failure, or a malfeasor, may adversely impact thereliability and provability of the record keeping within the computingsystem. The present invention provides systems and methods of ensuringreliability and provability of record keeping for a plurality ofcomputing systems intercommunicating particular transactional andtimekeeping information.

Anomaly refers to a state change within a computer or computing systemoutside the expectations of the computer owner/operator—for example,without limitation, an actual or apparent timekeeping variance, ordeviation in event order recording, as well as an actual defect in theintegrity of data. (A defect in integrity of data does not necessarilyrequire a defect in the data itself, but does create doubt as to thereliability and provability of the data.)

Computer refers to an electronic device that is capable of executingmachine-readable instructions; that is suitable for storing and/orprocessing data; and that comprises at least a processor, a memory, aninput capability, and an output capability. A computer may be a completecomputing system, or a component of a computing system. A computer iscapable of one or more of the computer functions of receiving data,processing data, storing data, transmitting data, and outputting data.

Computing system refers to a computer or a collection of computers andsimilar devices communicating together to accomplish one or morefunctions of a computer.

Network refers to a system or method and related equipment ofinterconnectivity between computing systems, regardless of topology,protocol, operating system, or geophysical location. In particular,network as used herein includes a multiplex network havingmultidirectional synchronous and asynchronous communication betweennodes, wherein one node represents one computing system or particularcollection of computing systems, and wherein one node may communicatewith multiple other nodes simultaneously, and wherein multiple nodes maycommunicate simultaneously with multiple nodes.

Blockchain refers to a system or method wherein data are containedwithin a logical block, the various blocks of data are logicallyorganized in a relative time-ordered sequence, and an element of thedata of each block comprises a token identifying and logicallyconnecting the block to the immediately preceding block.

Blockchain network refers to a collection of at least two blockchainswhich exchange with each other an amount of particular data whereby eachblockchain in the blockchain network provides a degree of proof-of-truthand proof-of-work for each other blockchain within the blockchainnetwork. The particular data exchanged may comprise blockchain blocks. Ablockchain network may be implemented through a form of one-waycryptography comprising cross-merkelization, as disclosed herein.

Principal blockchain generally refers to a blockchain operated by aprincipal; however, within the context of this disclosure, a principalblockchain is an example blockchain discussed herein as if the readerwere the principal operating the example blockchain. Further, for thepurposes of this disclosure, the example principal blockchain isparticipating in a blockchain network.

Participating neighbor blockchain refers to a blockchain participatingin a blockchain network, exclusive of the principal blockchain butparticipating within the same blockchain network as the principalblockchain. Each of the blockchains, whether a principal blockchain or aparticipating neighbor blockchain, is a participating blockchain.

Block refers to a member unit of a blockchain, and further refers to acollection of data logically assembled together, and may include avariety of data of fixed types and sizes, and data of non-fixed typesand sizes. In other words, a block may contain, for example withoutlimitation, (1) a version identifier, (2) a block identifier, (3) anonce, (4) a digest, (5) a parent digest, (6) a timestamp, and (7)transactional data. Items (1) through (6) may each have a particulardata type and size, while item (7) may comprise a collection of data ofvarying types and/or lengths. Each block can contain a token (e.g., aparent hash), which identifies the immediately preceding block in theblockchain of which the block is a member.

Set refers to a partially ordered set, or poset, as discussed in thescholarly article Deshpande, Jayant V. (1968) “On Continuity of aPartial Order” Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 19 (2):383-386. Doi: 10.1-9-/S0002-9939-1968-0236071-7, which is incorporatedherein in its entirety by reference.

SHA refers to a Secure Hashing Algorithm. A SHA is a one-waycryptographic function or set of functions taking as input a string,which may be of variable length, and producing output of a fixed length.A purpose of a SHA is to produce an output string from which the inputstring cannot be derived. For purposes of this disclosure, references toSHA are directed toward a SHA-2 family implementation known as SHA256according to (or complying with) a standard of the United StatesNational Security Agency published in the Federal Information ProcessingStandards (FIPS) Pub. 180-4 by the National Institute of Standards andTechnology (NIST). SHA256 is capable of taking an input string ofvariable length of up to over 1.844e19 characters (over 2,000,000terabytes) and producing a 256-bit (32-byte) output string. In at leastsome SHA256 implementations, the input string can be (null) and producean output string. The output string of SHA256 (or another SHA) is knownas a digest. The term “hash” may be used interchangeably with digest.Other suitably secure cryptographic hashing algorithms may be used insome embodiments of the present disclosure.

A digest is an output from a secure hashing algorithm. With SHA256, thedigest is 256 bits, or 32 bytes, in length. The digest, also known as ahash, has a fixed length of 256 bits; thus SHA256 may produce up to 2256distinct digests (hashes). The representation of the digest may vary inlength depending on the computing system encoding method. For example, ahexadecimal computing system may represent the digest as 32-characterstring.

Double-hash or double-hashing refers to “hashing a hash,” or generatinga digest and then using that digest as an input string, or portion of aninput string, for another hash iteration to produce a new digest. Forthe second iteration, the digest output from the first iteration may becombined with another digest, for example, by concatenation, and thecombination of the two digests forms an input for the second hashiteration. If another digest is not available, the first output digestmay be duplicated with the original, and duplicate digests may becombined to form the input for the second hash iteration.

Merkelize or merkelizing (in some publications, “merklize” or“merklizing”) refers to a process in which each of a collection of datastrings is processed through a SHA, and each resulting digest is pairedwith another likewise-produced digest, for example by concatenation, andthen processed through a SHA again to produce a new digest, with theprocedure repeating until only a single digest remains. If at anyiteration an odd number of digests exists (greater than one (1)), one ofthe digests is duplicated and the duplicate concatenated to itsoriginal, then processed through the SHA. The single remaining digestmay be known as a merkle root for the particular collection of datastrings. Similarly, merkelized refers to data having been processed bymerkelization.

Cross-merkelization refers to merkelization wherein data, in the form ofa digest, from one blockchain is merkelized with data, also in the formof a digest, of another blockchain. In a blockchain network, eachparticipating blockchain contributes a digest relating the particularblockchain's latest block to each other participating blockchain, andeach participating blockchain merkelizes together all digests receivedfor the current block. Cross-merkelization is further detailed below.

System time refers to a time of a timekeeping subsystem of a computingsystem. A common practice is to configure the timekeeping subsystem ofthe computing system to periodically synchronize itself to a remotetimekeeping system (such as a time server operated by the U.S. NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology (NIST)).

Relative time refers to an ordering of events based on the apparent timethe event occurred, or was perceived by or reported to the particularordering mechanism without adherence to a strict time reference. Forillustrative purposes, an Event A may occur within a computing systemCS-A at 20180601:0101:10.150 UTC, an Event B may occur within acomputing system CS-B 400 milliseconds after Event A relative to UTC,and an Event C may occur within a computing system CS-C 1,300milliseconds (1.3 seconds) after Event A, and 900 milliseconds afterEvent B relative to UTC. CS-A and CS-B may report the occurrence ofEvents A and B to CS-C, including the event system time. Because ofnetwork topology, the report of Event B may arrive at CS-C 700milliseconds after Event B occurred, and 200 milliseconds before Event Coccurs. Because of remoteness and network latency, the report of Event Amay arrive at CS-C 2,900 milliseconds (2.9 seconds) after Event Aoccurred, and 1,600 milliseconds (1.6 seconds) after Event C occurred.To CS-C, the relative time (order) of these events based on when Event Coccurred within CS-C and the reports of Events A and B arrived to CS-Cis B C A, even though the absolute order according to UTC is A B C.

A collision refers either to identical digests being produced from a SHA(digest collision), or an incidence of two or more blocks occurringsimultaneously (block collision). A digest collision, however unlikely,is theoretically possible from differing input strings. A digestcollision may result from multiple computing systems producing identicaldigests simultaneously to each other, or nearly so, while participatingin, for example, a blockchain network. A block collision may occur whentwo (or more) computing systems participating in a blockchain networkproduce and/or deliver and/or receive blocks either at the same time, orhaving identical timestamps. Blockchain systems comprise methods tomitigate each of these collision types in a manner that prevents theblockchain(s) from failing or stalling. For example, a computing systemreceiving a block from another blockchain bearing an identical timestampto the receiving computing system's latest native block may simplyignore the incoming block's timestamp and treat the incoming block asarriving immediately after the latest native block. Similarly, ablockchain participating computing system receiving a block from anotherblockchain simultaneous to the production of a native block may beconfigured to treat the incoming block as arriving after the new nativeblock regardless of the incoming block's timestamp. A blockchainparticipating computing system receiving a block from each of two (ormore) participating computing systems may be configured to order themultiple incoming blocks based on one of each block's timestamp, length(also called height) of each sending blockchain, blockchain IDserialization, etc.

Collision resistance refers to an unlikelihood of different inputstrings producing a digest collision. (Because resolving a blockcollision is simply a matter of choosing how to order blocks, blockcollision resistance is not a significant concern.) Because SHA256 mayproduce up to 2256 distinct digests, collision resistance may be deemedquite high. In some computing applications, SHA256 collision resistancemay be theoretically decreased by artificially imposing one or morelimitations on acceptable result digests. In other words, a particularapplication may enforce a rule of x consecutive bits having a value of0, effectively reducing the number of distinct digests which theparticular application may accept as output from SHA256. Because SHA isa one-way cryptographic function, such an output-limiting rule cannotserve as an input parameter for SHA256, but only as a post-processimplementation necessitating iteratively producing digests with varyinginput strings until a rule-compliant digest is produced. In at leastsome blockchain implementations, varying the input string may beaccomplished by prepending or appending a nonce to the input string, andincrementing the nonce or randomly generating, or otherwise obtaining, arandom new nonce with each iteration of SHA until a rule-compliantdigest is produced.

Collision resolution refers to system(s) or method(s) of deprecating allidentical digests but one, such that each deprecated digest may beabandoned. When a digest is abandoned, the block of which the abandoneddigest is an element may also be abandoned.

Nonce refers to an arbitrary integer (e.g., 32-bit integer). A nonce maybe a member of a series of nonces. In some embodiments, a nonce israndomly generated or pseudo randomly generated for each use iteration.In other embodiments, a nonce may be incremented to a next value foreach successive use iteration. An initial nonce (a nonce for a firstiteration of a block generation cycle) may be selected, for examplewithout limitation, by an algorithm generating a 32-bit integer, or by aprotocol-stipulated initial value. A next nonce (a subsequent iterationfor the same block generation cycle) may be by an algorithm againgenerating a 32-bit integer, or by a protocol-stipulated incrementing ofthe previously used nonce. In one embodiment, a nonce may be generatedanew for each iteration without regard for the value of the precedingnonce.

Proof-of-work refers to a digest which is compliant with an outputlimitation rule imposing a requirement of x consecutive bits having avalue of 0. Because a SHA does not take an output-controlling parameter,a digest can be compared to the rule after generation. A digestcomplying with the rule is produced by iteratively generating digestsuntil a compliant digest results. The compliant digest may serve asdemonstrative evidence (“proof”) that an amount of computer processing(“work”) was expended to produce the digest. An output limitation rulemay similarly require x consecutive bits having a value of 1, or adefined substring of a particular length with a particular order of 0sand 1s. A higher (longer) proof-of-work requirement may result in alower collision resistance.

Target difficulty refers to an element which specifies a particularlimitation to form a proof-of-work-compliant digest. For example withoutlimitation, a target difficulty may indicate a digest must have ten (10)consecutive 0-bits in order to qualify as a proof-of-work digest.

Transaction customarily can refer to (a) an exchange, such as anexchange of goods/service for goods/services, goods/services forpayment, exchange of debts, exchange of promises, exchange ofobligations, etc.; and (b) a computer function whereby a transaction oftype (a) is recorded or otherwise processed; and (c) a computer functionwhereby a transaction of type (b) is recorded. By way of example, a type(a) transaction may be a sale of a Widget for cash; a related type (b)transaction may be decrementing the number of Widgets in stock as aresult of the sale; and a related type (c) transaction may be a computerlog entry recording information (for example, user identity, login time,access to inventory software, subtraction of the sold Widget, etc.)about the access which performed the stock decrement. Transactions oftype (c) may also include records of installation, modification, ordeletion of firmware or software, including image size, digitalsignature, license, certificate, etc.

It will be readily understood that the components of the embodiments asgenerally described and illustrated in the figures herein could bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.Thus, the following more detailed description of various embodiments, asrepresented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of thedisclosure, as claimed, but is merely representative of variousembodiments. While the various aspects of the embodiments are presentedin drawings, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale unlessspecifically indicated.

The terms “a” and “an” can be described as one, but not limited to one.For example, although the disclosure may recite “a collection having adigest,” the disclosure also contemplates that the collection can havetwo or more digests.

Unless otherwise stated, all ranges include both endpoints and allnumbers between the endpoints.

Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment” or “theembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with that embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment. Thus, the quoted phrases, or variationsthereof, as recited throughout this specification are not necessarilyall referring to the same embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a block 10 of a blockchain within a computingsystem 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The block10 may include a header 11 and a payload 13. The block 10 may beproduced or otherwise implemented on the computing system 1 by ablockchain implementation, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The block 10 of FIG. 1 comprises a block identifier (orblock ID) 12, a blockchain version (or blockchain version identifier)14, a blockchain identifier (or blockchain ID) 16, a timestamp 18, aproof-of-work region (or POWR) 20 (which may be considered a set withinthe meaning of mathematical set theory), a block digest 30, a targetdifficulty 40, a block nonce 50, and a collection 60 of contributingblock digests. The block 10 may include one or more record digest(s) 70,72, 74 (e.g., merkel roots), including a record digest 70 of the instantblock 10 and one or more record digests 72, 74 of blocks ofparticipating neighbor blockchains. The record digests 70, 72, 74 may beconsidered a set within the meaning of mathematical set theory. Theblock 10 may include one more block headers 80, 82 of blocks receivedfrom other blockchains (e.g., participating neighbor blockchains).

The block 10 may include a collection 90 of records within the payload13. The collection of records may comprise transaction records. Atransaction record may comprise an entry of information concerning atransaction.

The header 11 of the block 10 may comprise the block ID 12, theblockchain version 14, the blockchain ID 16, the timestamp 18, the POWR20, the block digest 30, the target difficulty 40, the block nonce 50,the collection 60 of contributing block digests, and a record digest 70(merkel root) of the transactions of the block 10. The payload 13 maycomprise the collection 90 of records.

The block ID 12 may be a sequential identifier indicating a relativeorder of the block 10 in the blockchain to which the block 10 belongs.The blockchain version identifier 14 may indicate the particular versionof blockchain protocol under which the blockchain that created the block10 is operating. The timestamp 18 may be an indicator of the systemtime, according to a timekeeping subsystem of the computing system 1hosting the blockchain, at which the block 10 was created. The POWR 20,the block digest 30, the target difficulty 40, and the collection 60 ofcontributing block digests are further described below. The form andorder of the above elements within the block 10 may be governed by theblockchain protocol under which the blockchain that created the block 10operates.

The computing system 1 may be any appropriate computing system includingone or more computing devices, each comprising one or more processors,one or more computer readable media, one or more electronic memory, oneor more input/output devices, and/or one or more communicationinterfaces.

The order of the elements 12-90 shown in FIG. 1 is for the convenienceof the reader, and not a requirement of a particular embodiment of thedisclosure. An embodiment of the present disclosure may have moreelements than described herein, or fewer.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a cross-merkelizing blockchain network 100comprising three participating blockchains, namely a principalblockchain 200, a first participating neighbor blockchain 300, and asecond participating neighbor blockchain 400, according to an embodimentof the present disclosure. The principal blockchain 200 comprises aseries of blocks, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure,of which a block 230 is identified. The block 10 of FIG. 1 is also shownin the context of the blockchain network 100 and the principalblockchain 200. Although FIG. 2 depicts three participating blockchains200, 300, 400 in the blockchain network 100, a blockchain networkaccording to the present disclosure may have fewer (but at least two) ormore participating blockchains. Furthermore, the blockchain network 100may be a multiplexing network.

The block 230 of the principal blockchain 200 comprises at least aunique block ID 212, a blockchain version 214, a blockchain ID 216, atimestamp 218, and a data region 226. The unique block ID 212 may beanalogous to (and value-wise distinct from) the unique block ID 12 ofthe block 10. The blockchain version 214 may be analogous to theblockchain version 14 of the block 10. The blockchain ID 216 may beanalogous to the blockchain ID 16 of the block 10. The timestamp 218 maybe analogous to (and value-wise distinct from) the timestamp 18 of theblock 10. The data region 226 may include elements analogous to otherelements of the block 10 of FIG. 1 , and may include elements notidentified in FIG. 1 . A block 330 of the first participating neighborblockchain 300 is identified, having elements 312, 314, 316, 318, 326that may be generally analogous to the block 230 of the principalblockchain 200. A block 430 of the second participating neighborblockchain 400 is identified, having elements 412, 414, 416, 418, 426that may be generally analogous to the block 230 of the principalblockchain 200.

Each of the blocks 230, 330, 430 is represented at the lowest aspect ofthe respective blockchains 200, 300, 400, although this is for ease ofreference only. The blocks 230, 330, 430 may be succeeded each by aseries of blocks within the respective blockchain 200, 300, 400 of eachblock 230, 330, 430. By way of example, the block 230 of the principalblockchain 200 is shown to have a succeeding block 10 _(P), to which theblock 10 is a subsequently succeeding block, and the block 10 is shownwith a further succeeding block 10 _(N). Each of the succeeding blocks10 _(P), 10, 10 _(N), etc., of the principal blockchain 200 has atimestamp analogous to the timestamp 218 of the block 230. The timestampof each succeeding block 10 _(P), 10, 10 _(N) is shown as recordingsuccessively later times. Within the principal blockchain 200, thetimestamps recorded in each succeeding block form at least a logicalorder of events within the principal blockchain 200. In other words, thetimestamp of each block within the principal blockchain 200 is derivedfrom the system time of the computing system in which the blocks aregenerated.

The participating neighbor blockchains 300, 400 similarly arerepresented having successively later succeeding blocks 330 _(P), 430_(P), and otherwise generally and functionally resemble the principalblockchain 200. Like the succeeding block timestamps of the principalblockchain 200, succeeding block timestamps of each participatingneighbor blockchain 300, 400 form an immutable order sequence referencewithin the respective blockchain 300, 400.

The principal blockchain 200 may be resident within the computing system1 of FIG. 1 from which the blockchain 200 derives the time for eachsucceeding block timestamp. Each participating neighbor blockchain 300,400 may similarly reside within a respective, distinct computing systemanalogous to the computing system 1 of the principal blockchain 200.Each participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400 may derive the time foreach succeeding block timestamp with the respective blockchain 300, 400from the system time of the computing system (analogous to the computingsystem 1 of the blockchain 200) wherein the respective participatingneighbor blockchain 300, 400 resides. As may be well understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art, each of the computing systems (analogousto the computing system 1 of the principal blockchain 200) may havediffering system time settings and/or mechanisms.

As each participating blockchain 200, 300, 400 completes each succeedingblock, the block is communicated to at least one participating neighborblockchain. For example, each block of first participating neighborblockchain 300 may be communicated 324 to at least the principalblockchain 200, and each block of the second participating neighborblockchain 400 may be communicated 422 to at least the principalblockchain 200 as each block is created. The principal blockchain 200may be agnostic with regard to the relative time of production of ablock within a participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400. As each suchblock of a participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400 is communicated324, 422 to the principal blockchain 200, the principal blockchain 200may be aware of a relative time that the blockchain 200 becomes aware ofthe existence of the block from the participating neighbor blockchain300, 400. More broadly, as each of the blockchains 200, 300, 400 createsa block, for example the blocks 230, 330, 430 respectively, andcommunicates the same among the other blockchains 200, 300, 400 withinthe blockchain network 100, each of the blockchains 200, 300, 400 maynote 112 the creating of each succeeding block and may order 114 theblocks in a time-advancing 110 series. In other words, each blockchain200, 300, 400 may be aware of the time order 114 of the creation (orcommunication of creation) of each block of each blockchain 200, 300,400 in the blockchain network 100. See FIGS. 5-6 , below.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 1 and 2 . In the present example, theblock 10 of FIG. 1 is a member of the principal blockchain 200 in FIG. 2. The block ID 12 may be unique to the block 10. In other words, eachblock in a blockchain may have a unique block ID 12. The blockchainversion 14 may identify the particular implementation of blockchainprotocol used by the principal blockchain 200 in producing the block 10.The blockchain ID 16 may identify the particular blockchain 200 of whichthe block 10 is a member. The blockchain ID 16 is shown as a 4-bytehexadecimal representation as a matter of convenience only and is not arequirement of this disclosure. The blockchain ID 16 may be formed in avariety of different ways, provided the blockchain ID 16 can be uniqueto each blockchain. The timestamp 18 may report the system time at whichthe block 10 was produced. The timestamp 18 may take the form of, forexample without limitation, a Unix epoch timestamp, or any other formcompliant with an embodiment of a blockchain protocol according to thisdisclosure.

The collection 60 of contributing block digests comprises most recentblock digests 66, 64, 62 from each blockchain 200, 300, 400participating in the blockchain network 100. In the example of FIG. 1 ,the block digests collection 60 comprises the block digest 62 of a mostrecent block of the first participating neighbor blockchain 300, theblock digest 64 of a most recent block of the second participatingneighbor blockchain 400, and the block digest 66 of a most recent blockin the principal blockchain 200 immediately preceding the block 10.

The block digest 30 is created by merkelizing the block digest 62 andblock digest 64. In other words, the block digests 62, 64 (for blocksfrom participating neighbor blockchains) are concatenated so as to forma single 64-byte string, which is then processed through SHA. The outputof merkelizing the block digests 62, 64 through SHA is a 32-byte stringwholly comprising the block digest 30. Because each block digest 62, 64,66 is contributed by a different blockchain 200, 300, 400, themerkelization of these block digests 62, 64, 66 is, in particular,cross-merkelization. In a blockchain network having more than threeparticipating blockchains, the block digests collection 60 may comprisea block digest from each participating blockchain, and each such blockdigest may be cross-merkelized, and a merkel root of block digestsproduced to generate the block digest 30. The block 10 includes theblock digest 66, which was produced in the same manner as part of themost recent block 10 _(P) prior to and within the principal blockchain200. The block digest 66 may connect the block 10 to the most recentpreviously created block 10 _(P) within the principal blockchain 200.Similarly, a protocol of the blockchain 200 of the block 10 may pass theblock digest 30 to the immediately succeeding block 10 _(N) in theprincipal blockchain 200. In this manner, the block 10 _(N) succeedingthe block 10 is connected to the block 10, and the block 10 is connectedto the most recent block 10 _(P) preceding the block 10. Thisinterconnection of blocks is inherent throughout the principalblockchain 200 and serves to connect each block to its immediatepredecessor and successor. Similarly, the block digest 62 may have beenpassed from the participating neighbor blockchain 300 to the principalblockchain 200, and the block digest 64 may have been passed from theparticipating neighbor blockchain 400 to the principal blockchain 200.This connects the block 10 to an immediately preceding block 330 _(P),430 _(P) within each participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400, similarto connecting the block 10 to the immediately preceding block 10 _(P)within the principal blockchain 200.

The protocol of blockchain 200 of block 10 may likewise direct a passing222, 224 of the block digest 30 to each participating neighborblockchain 300, 400 such that an immediately succeeding block 330N, 430Nof each participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400 may be connected tothe block 10 of the principal blockchain 200. In this manner, eachparticipating blockchain 200, 300, 400 is connected to each otherparticipating blockchain 200, 300, 400. More particularly, the principalblockchain 200 is directly connected to each participating neighborblockchain 300, 400 by having directly received from each participatingneighbor blockchain 300, 400 previous block digests 62, 64 of the blocks330 _(P), 430 _(P); and by sending the block digest 30 to each of theparticipating neighbor blockchains 300, 400. The participating neighborblockchains 300, 400 are indirectly connected to each other as a resultof each participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400 sending block digests(analogous to digests 62, 64) to the principal blockchain 200, andreceiving from the principal blockchain 200 block digests (analogous todigests 64, 62) of the other participating neighbor blockchain 400, 300.The blockchain protocol of each participating blockchain 200, 300, 400may cross-merkelize the digests (analogous to 62, 64, 66) into eachparticipating blockchain's next succeeding block. Thiscross-merkelization process may proliferate throughout the blockchainnetwork 100, thereby interconnecting the participating blockchains 200,300, 400 in a cryptographically and independently verifiable manner. Bysharing (i.e., sending a block digest 30) to other participatingneighbor blockchains 300, 400 in the blockchain network 100, theimmutability (i.e., of the data, which is enabled by a blockchain) isdecoupled from the consensus (i.e., to add a block) of the participatingblockchains 200, 300, 400.

FIG. 3A is a partial flow diagram illustrating cross-merkelization ofthe blocks 330 _(P) and 430 _(P) of the participating neighborblockchains 300, 400 with the principal blockchain 200 of FIGS. 1-2 ,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3B is apartial flow diagram illustrating creation of the block 10. Referring toFIGS. 3A and 3B, the block 10 may be immediately preceded in theprincipal blockchain 200 by the block 10 _(P). A block digest 66 of theblock 10 _(P) may be passed 701 directly to the block 10. The blockdigest 66 may serve as reference to the preceding block 10 _(P), theblock immediately preceding the block 10. The latest preceding block 330_(P) of the participating neighbor blockchain 300 may be communicated(see 324 in FIG. 2 ) to the principal blockchain 200. The digest 62 ofthe block 330 _(P) may be extracted and passed 702 directly to the block10. Similarly, a latest preceding block 430 _(P) of the participatingneighbor blockchain 400 may be communicated (see 422 in FIG. 2 ) to theprincipal blockchain 200, and the block digest 64 extracted and passed703 directly to the block 10.

The target difficulty 40 may also be extracted 704 from the precedingblock 10 _(P). In one embodiment, the target difficulty 40 may also beextracted from the block 330 _(P), 430 _(P) of the participatingneighbor blockchain 300, 400 for comparison to the target difficulty 40of the preceding block 10 _(P) as an additional validity check prior toincluding data from the participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400 intothe block 10.

The block digest 62 from the block 330 _(P) and the block digest 64 fromthe block 430 _(P) may be concatenated together 710, 711 to form aninput string 29. The order of appearance in the concatenation may be setas a requirement of a particular implementation of the blockchainprotocol of the blockchain network 100. The input string 29 may then becommunicated to 712 and processed through a SHA 600 to generate 713 ablock digest 30 for the block 10. The block digest 30 may be passed 764(through R4) to the block 10. At a later stage, when the principalblockchain 200 is generating the succeeding block 10 _(N), the blockdigest 30 may be passed as an element of the block 10 to the block 10_(N), and may serve as a reference from the block 10 _(N) back to theblock 10, which includes the block digest 66 as a reference to thepreceding block 10 _(P). This procedure of including each previousblock's block digest into the succeeding block forms a chain ofreferential connectivity between each block of a blockchain so as toestablish an immutable record of block order within the blockchain. Thisimmutable ordering of blocks within a blockchain inherently establishesan immutable record of the data included in each of the blocks of theparticular blockchain, and, hence, of each participating blockchain inthe blockchain network 100. Also, the immutability is decoupled from anyrequirement by an individual blockchain for consensus of theparticipating nodes to add a block.

A nonce source 500 may be utilized by each blockchain 200, 300, 400,each participating blockchain 200, 300, 400 having its own nonce source500. A nonce source 500 may be a computing process which generates arandom nonce for each iteration, or may be a computing process whichgenerates an initial nonce for a first iteration, and thereafterincrements or otherwise varies the nonce for each successive iteration.A candidate nonce 510 may be received from the nonce source 500. Themanner of selecting a first candidate nonce 510 may be prescribed by theblockchain protocol of the participating blockchain 200, 300, 400, andmay be defined by a protocol of the blockchain network 100. A candidatenonce 510 and the block digest 30 may be concatenated together 720, 721to form an input string 520. The input string 520 may then be processed730 by the SHA 600 to produce 731 a candidate proof-of-work digest (POWdigest) 32 based on the block digest 30. The candidate POW digest 32 maythen be compared 740 with the target difficulty 40 at 550. In otherwords, the POW digest 32 is produced by “hashing the hash” where thehash to be hashed is the block digest 30, thus, the POW digest 32 is adouble-hash.

The target difficulty 40 is shown as a hexadecimal value in the presentexample; however, neither the explicit expression 0xFFFF0000 nor thehexidecimal format is required by this disclosure. The target difficulty40 may be expressed in a form that conveys to each blockchain 200, 300,400 of the blockchain network 100 a specific number of consecutive bitshaving an “off” value (or bytes having a “0” value) appearing at eitherthe big or little end of a resulting digest in order to qualify as aPOW. In another embodiment, the target difficulty 40 may be structuredto require a specific number of consecutive bits having an “on” value(or bytes having a “1” value). In another embodiment, the targetdifficulty 40 may require a specific sequence of “off” and “on” bits(“0” and “1” bytes) spanning a designated portion of the candidate POWdigest 32.

If the candidate POW digest 32 does not comply 552 with the targetdifficulty 40, the candidate POW digest 32 and the candidate nonce 510are abandoned 590 and the blockchain returns R₁ to the nonce source 500.A new candidate nonce 510 is selected. The manner of selection of thenew candidate nonce 510 may be prescribed by the blockchain protocol ofthe participating blockchain 200, 300, 400, and may be defined by theprotocol of the blockchain network 100, such as, for example withoutlimitation, by always incrementing the nonce value with each iteration,or by always decrementing with each iteration. The new candidate nonce510 may be concatenated to the block digest 30 then processed throughthe SHA 600, then compared 550 for compliance with the target difficulty40. These steps may iterate repetitively, with a new candidate nonce 510for each iteration, until a candidate POW digest 32 is produced whichcomplies with the target difficulty 40.

If the candidate POW digest 32 complies 550 with the target difficulty40, the candidate POW digest 32 is passed 558 to a cursory test 560 todetermine if any other POW digests are required to complete the block 10POWR 20. Because the current candidate POW digest 32 is a product of thecurrent block 10, at least one additional POW digest is required. In thecurrent example, two additional POW digests are needed. For this reason,the “last digest” test 560 fails 562. The current candidate POW digest32 may be placed 760 in temporary memory 563, and the blockchain 200returns R₂ to the current candidate nonce 510. The candidate nonce 510producing the successful candidate POW digest 32 is reused 723 byconcatenating the candidate nonce 510 with the digest 62 (722) toproduce an input string 530. The input string 530 may be passed 732 tothe SHA 600 to produce 733 a candidate POW digest 22. The candidate POWdigest 22 is then processed 741 to compare to the target difficulty 40.If the current candidate POW digest 22 does not comply 550 with thetarget difficulty 40, the current candidate POW digest 22 and candidatenonce 510 are abandoned 552, 590. Furthermore, the previous candidatePOW digest 32 is removed 750 from the temporary memory 563 and abandoned590. The blockchain 200 then returns R₁ to select a new candidate nonce510.

If the candidate POW digest 22 complies 550 with the target difficulty40, the candidate POW digest 22 may be stored 760 in the temporarymemory 563 along with the previous candidate POW digest 32. Theblockchain continues to iterate through nonce selection R₁, R₂ until acandidate POW digest 32, 22, 24, etc. complying with the targetdifficulty 40 has been generated for each latest block digest 66, 62,64, etc. of the principal blockchain 200 and the participating neighborblockchains 300, 400, etc. Once a target difficulty 40 compliantcandidate POW digest 32, 22, 24, etc. has been generated for each blockdigest 66, 62, 64, etc., each of the candidate POW digests 32, 22, 24,etc. may be retrieved 566 from the temporary memory 563 to be placed 762in the POWR 20 of the block 10. The principal blockchain 200 may alsostore 766 the successful candidate nonce 510 as the block nonce 50 inthe block 10.

Once the block 10 has been generated, the principal blockchain 200 maypass the block 10 to each of the participating neighbor blockchains 300,400. The block 10 includes the block digests 62 and 64, which theblockchain 200 received from the last previous block 330 _(P), 430 _(P)of each of the respective participating neighbor blockchains 300, 400.In other words, an element of the block 10 is the digest 62 from thefirst participating neighbor blockchain 300 last previous block 330_(P). Accordingly, the block digest 62 is received from, then sent backto, the participating neighbor blockchain 300, which allows theparticipating neighbor blockchain 300 to check or otherwise monitor theintegrity of its own stored data and/or transactions. Likewise, theblock digest 64 was received from, and will be sent back to, the secondparticipating neighbor blockchain 400, allowing the second participatingneighbor blockchain 400 to verify or otherwise monitor its own integrityof stored data and/or transactions. The POWR 20 of the block 10 providesassurance to each of the participating neighbor blockchains 300, 400 ofthe validity of the block 10, thereby assuring each of the participatingneighbor blockchains 300, 400 that each is receiving the respectiveblock digests 62, 64 as the block digests 62, 64 were received at theprincipal blockchain 200. Similarly, the block 10 conveys to each of theparticipating neighbor blockchains 300, 400 the block digest 30. Each ofthe participating neighbor blockchains 300, 400 will return the blockdigest 30 to the principal blockchain 200 with the next subsequent blockfrom each participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400. This permits theprincipal blockchain 200 to authenticate to itself the veracity of theblockchain 200, and hence the transactional records of each block of theblockchain 200. Furthermore, because the principal blockchain 200transmits to each of the participating neighbor blockchains 300, 400 thesuccessful candidate nonce 510, each of the participating neighborblockchains 300, 400 can process each previous block digest 62, 64, 66through SHAs using the disclosed successful candidate nonce 510 toensure that the POWR has been generated according to the blockchainprotocol, and that each block digest 62, 64, 66 is correct. In thismanner, each participating blockchain may have high confidence as to theintegrity of the data—including the order of transactions and digests—ofeach participating blockchain 200, 300, 400, even though eachparticipating blockchain 200, 300, 400 is unaware of the actual data ofevery other participating blockchain 200, 300, 400. This creates animmutable record for each blockchain 200, 300, 400 without a prior needfor trust and without a reliance on consent other than to participate inthe blockchain network 100. In other words, the immutability of the datais decoupled from the consensus of the participating blockchains 200,300, 400.

Furthermore, the ability of each participating blockchain 200, 300, 400to independently verify that the candidate nonce 510 and previous blockdigests (analogous to block digests 62, 64, 66 of FIGS. 1, 3A) producetarget difficulty-compliant digests (analogous to POW digests 22, 24, 32of FIG. 3A) enables each of the participating blockchains 200, 300, 400to recognize an anomaly relative to data of one of the participatingblockchains 200, 300, 400. In other words, if the participating neighborblockchain 300 performs a verification of the block digests (analogousto the block digests 62, 64, 66) using the candidate nonce 510 reportedby principal blockchain 200, and any one of the resulting digests fromthe verification process fails to match the corresponding POW digestreported by the principal blockchain 200, the participating neighborblockchain 300 may identify the digest anomaly to each participatingblockchain 200, 300, 400. This permits the detection of a data anomalyin a participating blockchain 200, 300, 400 of the blockchain network100 within moments of the event which caused the anomaly and withoutdisclosure of the actual data involved. Additionally, the participatingblockchain 200, 300, 400 identifying the anomaly can also bundle thepreviously known correct block data with the anomalous data identifiedand propagate a proof of misbehavior to each other participatingblockchain 200, 300, 400, including that blockchain 200, 300, 400 inwhich the anomaly resides. This cross-reporting of the anomaly, or proofof misbehavior, may enable each participating blockchain 200, 300, 400to insulate itself from possible injection of bad data, and alsoprovides an audit trail for each computer system owner/operator toisolate, to within a few moments, the occurrence of the anomalous data,regardless of source. For example, in a worst case scenario, ifanomalous data is detected by the participating neighbor blockchain 400in a block from the participating neighbor blockchain 300, and thecomputing system(s) of the entity operating the participating neighborblockchain 300 is/are so severely compromised that the computing systemowner/operator is unable to locate the anomaly by internal means, thedata from any other participating blockchain 200, 400 may enablereconstruction of the anomaly event and assist in correction andmitigation.

The process of cross-merkelization described above may also be referredto as mutual merge mining because each participating blockchain 200,300, 400 produces blocks simultaneously, and without dependency on eachof the other participating blockchains 200, 300, 400, whileincorporating any blocks which may be presented by each of the otherparticipating blockchains 200, 300, 400.

FIG. 4 is a graph 150 illustrating a geometrically progressing degree ofimmutability which may be achieved in a blockchain network, such as theblockchain network 100 of FIGS. 2-3B, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, as well as for a non-networked blockchain. For thepresent example, degree of immutability refers to how iteratively nestedan initial block digest is within a given child block. In other words,the degree of immutability of the initial block is 1 within the initialblock, 2 after the second block, 4 after the third block, 8 after thefourth block, etc. In a networked blockchain, the degree of immutabilityfor the initial block increases much more aggressively as the secondblock of a particular blockchain has the initial block nested throughcross-merkelization with participating neighbor blockchains. Forexample, in a blockchain network having three participating blockchains,such as the principal blockchain 200 of FIGS. 2-3B, the initial blockhas a degree of immutability of 6 after the second block, 21 after thethird block, 44 after the third block, etc. Multiple nesting, inparticular, set-wise nesting, further enhances immutability.

A vertical scale 152 of the graph 150 represents the degree ofimmutability which may be achieved in various implementations of thepresent disclosure. A horizontal scale 154 of the graph 150 represents anumber of blocks created in the various implementations. Of note, thevertical scale 152 of the graph 150 shows a visualization of theincrease in immutability by three orders of magnitude for each scalemark, such that the graph 150 vertically spans 0 to 10⁹⁰ (1 followed by91 0s). More particularly, the graph 150 reflects, without limitation, ageneral tendency toward geometric progression of immutability.

Data line 160 represents the approximate degree of immutability of anon-networked blockchain for the first 100 blocks created. Data line 162represents the approximate degree of immutability for a blockchainparticipating in a blockchain network of three participatingblockchains, similar to the principal blockchain 200 of FIGS. 2-3B. Datalines 164 and 166 represent the degree of immutability of a blockchainin, respectively, a blockchain network of five and eight participatingblockchains. Due to the vertical scale 152 being rendered in orders ofmagnitude, the data lines 160, 162, 164, 166 appear to depict a purelylinear diversion. For reference, the degree of immutability of the dataline 160 (representing the non-networked blockchain) after the 50thblock is created is 2.815×10¹⁴, and the degree of immutability of thedata line 162 (representing a blockchain network of three blockchains)is 1.994×10²³, or 7.084×10⁸ times greater than that of the non-networkedblockchain. After 100 blocks, the blockchain represented by the dataline 162 has a degree of immutability that is 4.517×10¹⁷ times greaterthan the degree of immutability of the non-networked blockchainrepresented by the data line 160. A blockchain in a network of eightblockchains, represented by the data line 166, has a degree ofimmutability approximately 2.152×10⁵⁹ times greater than a non-networkedblockchain after 100 blocks.

FIG. 5 is a partial block diagram of some operations executing within acomputing system, such as the computing system 1 of FIGS. 1-3B,comprising the principal blockchain 200 and an event log 280, accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure. The elements of FIG. 5 aregenerally analogous to corresponding elements of FIG. 2 . The blocks230, 330, 430 of the, respectively, principal blockchain 200 and firstand second participating neighbor blockchains 300, 400 are shown forreference. A time progression 110 is also shown for reference, and isanalogous to the time progression 110 of FIG. 2 . The principalblockchain 200 may be operated within or by the computing system 1. Inaddition to the principal blockchain 200, the computing system 1 maygenerate on an ongoing basis the event log 280. At least some of thecommunication of FIG. 5 may transpire within the same network as that ofFIG. 2 , which may be a multiplex network.

The event log 280 comprises a collection of event records represented inFIG. 5 by a series of pips within the diagram of the event log 280. Anevent record 284 is shown as an enlarged pip, and may be an event recordin the event log 280 recording an initial startup of the computingsystem 1. The event record 284 may contain an initial sequenceidentifier (Seq. ID) 286, here shown as “0000” to represent a first andinitial event record in the event log 280. The event record 284 may alsocomprise an identifier 288 representing the logical owner of the event.For the event record 284, the identifier 288 is illustrated as “0000” torepresent, for example without limitation, a main operating system ofthe computing system 1. Each event record may further comprise anactionable item, as described below.

Each event record (represented by the series of pips along the event log280) may be entered into the event log 280 in single sequential series.While each event record of the event log 280 may include a timestamp(not shown), such an entry in an event record may be for the benefit ofthe computer operator (not shown) performing a manual examination of theevent log 280. The entries of the event log 280, and the event log 280itself, may be time agnostic. Each event record succeeding the initialevent record having the Seq. ID 286 of “0000” may be incremented by 1.In other words, the event record immediately following the initial eventrecord 284 may have a Seq. ID of “0001.”

By way of example, a block 230, analogous to the block 230 of FIG. 5 ,is shown having been generated by the principal blockchain 200 andhaving an associated event record 211 in the event log 280. The eventrecord 211 has a Seq. ID 213 of “0004,” suggesting for the presentexample, this is the fifth sequential event record in the event log 280.The event record 211 comprises an event identifier (“event ID”) 215 of“A01” indicating the event record 211 is logically owned by the block230 of the principal blockchain 200. For ease of reference, the value of“A01” for the event ID 215 associates the event record 211 to the block230 of the principal blockchain 200 in FIG. 5 , and analogously to thesame block 230 in FIG. 2 . At a subsequent point, the principalblockchain 200 is shown having generated a subsequent block 240. Whenthe block 240 is generated, the principal blockchain 200 causes 242 anevent record 244 in the event log 280. The event record 244 comprises aSeq. ID 246 of “0009” and an event ID 248 of “A02.” The event ID 248“A02” identifies the logical owner of the event record 244 as the block240 of the principal blockchain 200. The Seq. ID 246 “0009” indicatesthe event record 211 is the tenth event record in the event log 280.

Subsequent to the creation of the block 240 of the principal blockchain,a block 340 is shown generated in the first participating neighborblockchain 300. The participating blockchain 300 passes 341 the block340 (or a cryptographic hash of the block 340 (e.g., a POW hash, blockhash, and/or records hash) and any corresponding nonce) to the principalblockchain 200. The principal blockchain 200 creates 342 an event record344 in the event log 280. The event record 344 comprises a Seq. ID 346of “000a” and an event ID 348 of “B02.” The Seq. ID 346 “000a” indicatesthe event record 344 is the eleventh event record in the event log. Theevent ID 348 “B02” indicates the logical owner of the event record 344to be the block 340 of the first participating neighbor blockchain 300.

Subsequent to the creation of the blocks 240 and 340, the secondparticipating neighbor blockchain 400 may generate a block 440. Thesecond participating neighbor blockchain 400 passes 441 the block 440(or a cryptographic hash of the block 440 (e.g., a POW hash, block hash,and/or records hash) and any corresponding nonce) to the principalblockchain 200. The principal blockchain 200 creates 442 an event record444 in the event log 280. The event record 444 comprises a Seq. ID 446of “000b” and an event ID 448 of “C02.” The Seq. ID 446 “000b” indicatesthe event record 444 is the twelfth event record in the event log.

In one embodiment, the collection of entries in the event log 280 fromthe creation of a first block may be merkelized and included in a secondblock. In other words, using the principal blockchain 200 of FIG. 5 asan example, the entries into the event log 280 beginning at the creationof the block 240 and having Seq. ID 246, et seq., values from 0009 to000b, inclusive, may be merkelized together and included in a next block250 of the principal blockchain 200. The values used herein for the Seq.IDs 246, 286, 346, 446 are merely examples to illustrate that eachsuccessive event record 244, 344, 444 has an incremented Seq. ID 246,346, 446 relative to each other. The particular event log 280 maycomprise additional entries between the particular entries 244, 344, 444associated to the creation of blocks in the principal blockchain 200 andthe receipt by the principal blockchain 200 of blocks from the first andsecond participating neighbor blockchains 300, 400.

While the present example illustrates the event log 280 comprising onlyentries associated with blockchain blocks, in another embodiment, theevent log may include other entries, as well. For example, the event logmay include event records corresponding to any of a variety of eventsrecorded in the blockchains, including actionable events that may resultor otherwise prompt an action being taken. Similarly, the values “A02,”“B02,” and “C02” of the event IDs 248, 348, 448 are for ease ofreference and do not necessarily reflect a specific event or event IDvalue in each respective event record 244, 344, 444. In other words,each blockchain block-associated event record 244, 344, 444 may comprisemultiple data items relating to the particular associated blockchainblock, such as, by way of example without limitation, the block ID, theblock digest, the block timestamp, the blockchain ID, etc.

FIG. 5 illustrates the event log 280 of the computing system 1 hostingthe principal blockchain 200. Each participating blockchain 200, 300,400, etc., may likewise have an event log 280, with each such event logindependent from each other event log.

Furthermore, due to network latency or similar issues, it is possiblethat, in the present example, a block of a participating neighborblockchain 300, 400 may arrive at the principal blockchain 200 with adelay causing a technical mis-ordering of the event log, however, absentsome other factor, this delay would be insignificant. Furthermore, avector clock (described below) may correct the technical mis-ordering.In other words, at computer speeds a block could be created at theprincipal blockchain 200, for example, at a Time(1) while a block ateither participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400 may have been createdat a Time(0) wherein Time(1) is, for example, 500 milliseconds afterTime(0), but the block from the participating neighbor blockchain 300 or400 may arrive at the principal blockchain at a Time(2), with Time(2)being 800 milliseconds after Time(0) and 300 milliseconds after Time(1).Because the event log 280 is agnostic of time and entries aresequentially made according to the order received, the event record forthe block logically associated to the block of the participatingneighbor blockchain 300 or 400 may be sequentially after the eventrecord for the block of the principal blockchain 200 even though theblock of the principal blockchain 200 was technically created prior tothe block of the participating neighbor blockchain 300, 400. A timedifference in two consecutive or nearly consecutive entries in the eventlog likely is of no consequence considering a vector clock (describedbelow) may correct any error in event record order.

FIG. 6 is a detailed partial block diagram of operations of thecomputing system 1 described in FIG. 5 , according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The area of detail in FIG. 6 corresponds to theregion of the event log 280 related to the blocks 240, 340, 440discussed above, and having a rough time validation implementationaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The principalblockchain 200 is shown as a logical process within the computing system1. The computing system 1 comprises all logical processes to operate theprincipal blockchain 200 (or otherwise implement a protocol of theprincipal blockchain 200), and further comprises the event log 280 and atime-based validation process 900. The first and second participatingneighbor blockchains 300, 400 are also shown.

The time-based validation process 900 operates essentiallytime-agnostically, in that the time-based validation process 900 is notlimited or controlled by the time subsystem of the computing system 1.The time-based validation process 900 sends and receives data andrequests to enable and record comparison of a collection of timestamps,as further explained below.

The principal blockchain 200 is shown having generated a blockchainblock 240. The block 240 may include a block timestamp (not shown, butsee, e.g., 18 in FIG. 1 ) indicating the system time at which the block240 was created. The principal blockchain 200 may communicate 910 with atime-based validation process 900 of the computing system 1. Moreparticularly, the principal blockchain 200 may communicate 910 to thetime-based validation process 900 a number of data related to the newlycreated block 240, such as, for example, a block ID, a block timestamp,a block digest, etc. The time-based validation process 900 mayelectronically contact 922 a first time server 920, sending to the timeserver a signed transmission including at least some of the dataprovided related to the newly created block 240, and request the firsttime server 920 respond with a signed time certificate (not shown). Themethod of requesting the current time from the first time server 920 maybe any appropriate and standardized method or protocol suitable forobtaining the current time from a common time server, such as asymmetrickey network time protocol. The first time server 920 may respond 922 bythe same communication medium and send back the signed transmission andinclude a signed certificate of the current time at the first timeserver 920.

The time-based validation process 900, upon receiving the signedtransmission returned from the first time server 920 along with thesigned time certificate, may repeat this process, sending 932 the signedtransmission to a second time server 930 along with a request for asigned time certificate (not shown). The second time server 930 mayreturn by the same communication medium the signed transmission of datarelated to the newly created block 240 along with a signed timecertificate (not shown) indicating the current time at the second timeserver 930. The time-based validation process 900 may then compare thetime reported by the first time server 920 and the second time server930 to determine if the variance in time reports falls within anacceptable limit established within the blockchain protocol. If thevariance exceeds the blockchain protocol established-limit, thetime-based validation process 900 may re-query either or both timeservers 920, 930, or may send requests to one or more additional timeservers analogous to the time servers 920, 930.

If the variance between the times reported by the first and second timeservers 920, 930 is within the limit of the blockchain protocol, thetime-based validation process 900 may then compare the block timestamp18 to the signed time certificates received from the first and secondtime servers 920, 930. If a difference between the block timestamp 18and the signed time certificates from the first and second time servers920, 930 is within a time variance allowance as established by theblockchain protocol, the time-based validation process 900 sends to theprincipal blockchain 900 the signed transmission comprising data relatedto the newly created block 240, along with the signed time certificatesand a signal (not shown) indicating proper time-based validation. Inanother embodiment, the time-based validation process 900 may directlycause 242 creation of the event record 244 in the event log 280. Inanother embodiment, the time-based validation process 900 may triggeranother process operating within the computing system 1 to cause 242 thecreation of the event record 244.

The event record 244 in the event log 280 related to (or logically ownedby) the newly created block 240 may comprise a Seq. ID 246, an event ID248 indicating the logical owner of the event record 244, a blocktimestamp 249 (analogous to the block timestamp 18 of FIG. 1 ), and thetimes recorded in the signed time certificates received from the firstand second time servers 920, 930.

The first participating neighbor blockchain 300 is shown havinggenerated a block 340 at a time after the block 240 was generated by theprincipal blockchain 200. The block 340 may be sent 341 to the principalblockchain 200. The receipt of the block 340 is communicated 910 to thetime-based validation process 900. The time-based validation process 900may query 924, 934 the first and second time servers 920, 930 asdescribed above. If the difference between the block timestamp of theblock 340 (analogous to the block timestamp 18 of FIG. 1 ) and thesigned time certificates received from the time servers 920, 930 fallwithin the blockchain protocol variance limit, the event record 344 ismade 342 in the event log 280 and comprises data associated to the block340. The event record 344 may comprise the Seq. ID 346 for the eventrecord 344, the event ID 348 indicating the logical owner of the eventrecord 344 to be the block 340, a block timestamp 349 of the block 340,and times 954, 964 received from the time servers 920, 930 in responseto the query related to the block 340.

The second participating neighbor blockchain 400 is shown havinggenerated a block 440 at a time after the block 240 was generated by theprincipal blockchain 200. The block 440 may be sent 440 to the principalblockchain 200. The receipt of the block 440 is communicated 910 to thetime-based validation process 900. The time-based validation process 900may query 926, 936 the first and second time servers 920, 930 asdescribed above. If the difference between the block timestamp of theblock 440 (analogous to the block timestamp 18 of FIG. 1 ) and thesigned time certificates received from the time servers 920, 930 fallwithin the blockchain protocol variance limit, the event record 444 ismade 442 in the event log 280 and comprises data associated to the block440. The event record 444 may comprise the Seq. ID 446 for the eventrecord 444, the event ID 448 indicating the logical owner of the eventrecord 444 to be the block 340, a block timestamp 449 of the block 440,and times 956, 966 received from the time servers 920, 930 in responseto the query related to the block 440.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a vector clock 800 of a blockchain networkcomprising three participating blockchains (not shown), analogous to theblockchain network 100 and participating blockchains 200, 300, 400 ofFIG. 2 , the vector clock 800 comprising event logs 801, 811, 821,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The event logs801, 811, 821 are by way of example only, and not by way of limitation,and further may represent event logs of the participating blockchains200, 300, 400 of the blockchain network 100 of FIG. 2 . The event log801 may represent the event log 280 of FIGS. 5-6 , which may beanalogous to an event log of the principal blockchain 200 of FIG. 2 .Likewise, the event logs 811 and 821 may be analogous to event logs of,respectively, the first and second participating neighbor blockchains300, 400 of FIGS. 2, 5-6 . At least some of the communication describedin conjunction with FIG. 7 may transpire in the same network as that ofFIGS. 2, 5 , which may be a multiplex network.

For the example of FIG. 7 , a first blockchain associated with the eventlog 801 may be a first blockchain to start and to create a startup eventrecord 802 in the event log 801. A first block may be generated andcause an event record 803. For the present example, a second blockchain,for the purposes of this example, analogous to the first participatingneighbor blockchain of FIG. 2 , may start after the blockchain of theevent log 801, and may be associated to the event log 811. The event log811 may comprise an event record 812 representing startup of the eventlog 811 (and its associated blockchain). The event record 812 of theevent log 811 may be communicated 827 to and inserted into the event log801. A first block of the blockchain associated to the event log 811 maybe generated and create an event record 813. The event record 813 may becommunicated 828 to and inserted into the event log 801. The eventrecords of the first event log 811, for the example thus far, maycomprise a startup event record 802 for the first blockchain, a firstblock event record 803 for the first blockchain, a startup event record(812) of the second blockchain, and a first block (813) of the secondblockchain. The event records may be stored in the event log 801 in theorder of occurrence and agnostic toward time.

A third blockchain, for the purposes of this example, analogous to thesecond participating neighbor blockchain of FIG. 2 , may startup andgenerate a startup event record 822 in the event log 821. The startupevent record 822 may be communicated 834 to and inserted into the eventlog 801. The third blockchain may generate a first block and a firstblock event record 823. The first block record event 823 may becommunicated 836 to and inserted into the event log 801.

To the point described thus far, the event log 811 of the secondblockchain comprises only the startup event record 812 and first blockevent record 813; and the event log 821 of the third blockchaincomprises only the startup event record 822 and first block event record823. At some point after the event log 811 starts, the event log 811 mayreach a prepend point 830. The prepend point 830 may represent a requestof the event log 811 to the event log 801 for all event records of theevent log 801 preceding the receipt by the event log 801 of the startupevent record 812 of the event log 811. Any event records, such as thestartup event record 802 and first block event record of the event log801 may be inserted 832 into the event log 811 so as to include theevent records 802, 803 in the order within the event log 811 in whichthey were entered in the event log 801 and relative to all event recordsgenerated prior to the prepend point 830. In other words, after theactions associated with the prepend point 830, the event log 811 maycomprise, in order, the startup event record 802 and first block eventrecord 803 of the event log 801, and the startup event record 812 andfirst block event record 813 of the event log 811.

Similarly, the event log 821 may reach a prepend point 840. The eventlog 821 may request and receive all event records in the event log 801and may insert 842 the event records received from the event log 801such that the event log 821 may comprise a sequence of all event logevent records commencing with the startup event record 802 of the eventlog 801, in the order in which the events represented by the eventrecords 802, 803, 804, 812, 813, 822, 823 occurred.

As each blockchain of the blockchain network generates a new block, asubsequent block event record may be entered into the event log of theassociated blockchain, and may be communicated to the event logs of theother blockchains in the blockchain network. By way of example withoutlimitation, a subsequent block event record 804 may be inserted into theevent log 801 in conjunction with the creation of a first subsequentblock by the associated blockchain. The event record 804 may then becommunicated 850 to the event log 811. In the present example, the eventrecord 804 may be communicated to the event log 821 in conjunction withthe event log 821 reaching the prepend point 840. The event log 821 maygenerate a subsequent block event record 823 and communicate 836 theevent record 823 to the event log 801. The event record 823 may also becommunicated 852 to the event log 811.

As the blockchain associated with the event log 801 generates newsubsequent blocks, new subsequent block event records 805, 806, 807 (etseq. ad infinitum) are created in the event log 801 in the order ofcreation. These event records 805, 806, 807 are communicated 855, 861,867 to the event log 811, and communicated 856, 862, 868 to the eventlog 821 for inclusion into each event log 811, 821 in the order in whichthey occurred. Likewise, the event log 811 generates new subsequentblock event records 814, 815, 816 (et seq. ad infinitum) andcommunicates 853, 859, 865 each of these event records 814, 815, 816 tothe event log 801 for inclusion in the event log 801 in the order inwhich the various events of both event logs 801, 811 occurred. Theevents 814, 815, 816 are also communicated (here, shown as beingcommunicated 854, 860, 866) from the event log 801 to the event log 821for inclusion in the event log 821 in the order in which each of thevarious events of the event logs 801, 811, 821 occurred. The event log821 also generates new subsequent block event records 824, 825, 826corresponding to subsequent new blocks of the blockchain associated withthe event log 821, and communicates 857, 863, 869 the event records 824,825, 826 to the event log 801. The event records 824, 825, 826 are alsocommunicated (shown in FIG. 7 as communicated 858, 864, 870 by the eventlog 801) to the event log 811. Each event record 805 . . . , 815 . . . ,824 . . . is communicated when generated such that each event log 801,811, 821 may comprise a comprehensive sequence of all block eventrecords created by all blockchains within the blockchain network.

FIG. 8 is a detailed view of a portion of the vector clock 800 of FIG. 7. A portion of the event logs 801, 811, 821 is shown corresponding tothe event records 806 (of the event log 801), 815 (of the event log811), and 826 (of the event log 821). In FIG. 7 , for ease ofillustration, communication of the event record 815 is shown asproceeding from the event log 811 to the event log 801, and from theevent log 801 to the event log 821. Similarly, the event record 825 ofthe event log 821 is shown as communicated from the event log 821 to theevent log 801, and from the event log 801 to the event log 811. Inaddition, the multiple step communication from one event log to a secondevent log and from the second event log to a third event log, each eventlog 801, 811, 821 may communicate directly to each other event log 801,811, 821. In FIG. 8 , the event record 815 of the event log 811 iscommunicated 859 from the event log 811 to the event log 801, iscommunicated 860 from the event log 801 to the event log 821, and alsocommunicated 880 from the event log 811 to the event log 821.Furthermore, when the event log 821 has received (via 880) the eventrecord 815 from the event log 811, the event log 821 may communicate 881the event record 815 to the event log 801.

The event record 806 of the event log 801 is communicated 861 from theevent log 801 to the event log 811, is communicated 862 from the eventlog 801 to the event log 821, is communicated 882 from the event log 811to the event log 821, and also communicated 883 from the event log 821to the event log 811. The communication of each event record of eachevent log to each other event log ensures that each event log is able torecord each event record of each event occurring in each blockchainparticipating in the blockchain network. Furthermore, communication ofan event record from one event log to each other event log by each eventlog may allow each event record to be entered into each event log evenin the presence of a network disruption. For example, the event log 821may attempt to communicate 863 and 884 the event 825 to, respectively,the event log 801 and the event log 811. The event record 825 is shownsuccessfully communicated 884 to the event log 811; however, a networkdisruption 886 has caused failure to communicate 863 the event record825 to the event log 801. Because the event log 811 communicates allevent records of the event log 811 to the event log 801, the eventrecord 825 of the event log 811 may be communicated 888 to the event log801 despite the network disruption 886 between the event log 821 and theevent log 801.

Because each event record of each event log is communicated to eachother event log by each event log of each blockchain participating inthe blockchain network, an immutable record of block creation isgenerated for all participating blockchains. As here illustrated, anevent record 825 has reached each event log 801, 811, 821 even thoughthere is a network disruption 886 between the event logs 801, 811. Thismultiple communication (or multi-sourcing) of event records may alsoserve to prevent or identify a m is-ordered event record. Each eventlog, in addition to receiving individual event records from each otherevent log, may compare the ordering of events, either individually, orby periodically exchanging for comparison a partial or complete listingof events contained within the event log. In other words, the computerprocess generating each event log 801, 811, 821 may exchange, from timeto time, a portion of the event log 801, 811, 821 generated inassociation with each particular blockchain of the blockchain network.Each computer process generating an event log 801, 811, 821 may comparethe received event log to the event log of the particular associatedblockchain. If a computer process generating an event log 801, 811, 821identifies within the received event log an event record entered at anearlier position in the received event log than currently reflected inthe computer process' own event log, the computer process may adjust itsown event log to reflect the earlier ordering of the event.

By way of example, the network disruption 886 of FIG. 8 , rather thanpreventing communication 863 of the event record 825 to the event log801, merely results in a delay such that event record 825 is entered inthe event log 801 after another block event record (for example, a newsubsequent block 816 of the event log 811 communicated 865 to the eventlog 801 in FIG. 7 ). The event log 801 may thus reflect a partial orderof events (referring to FIG. 7 ) as 815 (block B03), 806 (block A04),816 (block B04), and 825 (block C03). When the computer process of theevent log 801 receives the event logs 811, 821, the computer process ofthe event log 801 may identify the order of these particular events inthe event logs 811, 821 as 815, 806, 825, 816, and may adjust the eventlog 801 to reflect the earliest ordering of the event 825. Similarly, ifeach event log 801, 811, 821 had the event 825 in a different orderposition, the exchange and comparison of event logs 801, 811, 821 willenable each event log 801, 811, 821 to adopt the earliest order sequenceof the event 825. In this way, each event log 801, 811, 821 may reflectthe earliest, in order of appearance, point at which each block of eachassociated blockchain was first generated. In other words, the vectorclock 800 may allow each event log 801, 811, 821 to maintain animmutable record of the order of block generation of every block withineach blockchain participating in the blockchain network. The immutableordering of the vector clock enhances the degree of immutability or eachblock achieved through the mutual-merge mining of cross-merkelization.

Each event entry may further comprise an actionable item. An actionableitem may represent a real-world physical action to be performed, or alogical computer-executable function, or both. In other words, aparticular event entry may reference an associated block of one of theblockchains in the blockchain network, and may contain data, the receiptof which by one of the computing systems operating a blockchain of theblockchain network may indicate that a physical process or action beperformed at, by, or under the direction of the entity operating thereceiving computing system, or to execute a logical process or functionwithin the receiving computing system (or a component of the receivingcomputing system), or both. By way of example without limitation, andreferring to FIGS. 7-8 , the computing system operating the event log801 may generate, in addition to the block A04 (shown within the eventrecord 806), the event record 806. The event record 806 may comprise, inaddition to a reference to the block A04 of the blockchain associated tothe event log 801 (such as the principal blockchain 200 of FIG. 2 ), aninstruction actionable by the entity operating the computing system ofthe event log 811 to dispatch a particular cargo of goods, and a furtherinstruction actionable by the entity operating the computing system ofthe event log 821 to remit a payment to the entity operating thecomputing system of the event log 811 upon receipt from the computingsystem of the event log 811 an event record (such as the event record816 of FIG. 7 ) confirming that the cargo of goods has been dispatched.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a computing system 1000 providing immutablerecords, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thecomputing system 1000 may comprise one or more processors 1002, a memory1004, a network interface 1006, a blockchain 1010, a vector 1020 of avector clock, an event log 1022, and a time-based validation process1030. Computing system 1000 may be analogous to computing system 1 ofFIGS. 1 and 6 described above.

The vector 1020 may provide logging of events in the event log 1022 andmay provide functionality for receiving other event logs from othercomputing systems implementing different blockchains, and then comparingthe event log 1022 to the other event logs.

As can be appreciated, other configurations of computing devices arepossible, including distributed computing systems comprising a pluralityof processors and/or memories distributed over and interconnected via acommunication network.

Example Embodiments

The following are some example embodiments within the scope of thedisclosure. In order to avoid complexity in providing the disclosure,not all of the examples listed below are separately and explicitlydisclosed as having been contemplated herein as combinable with all ofthe others of the examples listed below and other embodiments disclosedhereinabove. Unless one of ordinary skill in the art would understandthat these examples listed below (and the above disclosed embodiments)are not combinable, it is contemplated within the scope of thedisclosure that such examples and embodiments are combinable.

Example 1. A principal computing system providing immutable recordkeeping (and/or an order of events and/or provable ordering of events),comprising: one or more computer-readable storage media to store aprincipal blockchain to store record data in a principal series ofblocks that are chronologically linked, a most recent block of theprincipal series of blocks including a cryptographic hash (e.g. a blockdigest of the most recent block, a nonce for the cryptographic hash ofthe most recent block, a cryptographic hash of a sequentially priorblock, a nonce for the cryptographic hash of the sequentially priorblock, a target difficulty for the cryptographic hash, a timestamp, anda portion of the record data; one or more processors in electricalcommunication with the one or more computer-readable storage media andconfigured to generate the principal blockchain or otherwise implement aprotocol of the principal blockchain, the one or more processors to:create a new block of the principal series of blocks to store new recorddata, the new block linked to the most recent block by including thecryptographic hash (e.g. a block digest) of the most recent block, andoptionally the nonce for the cryptographic hash of the most recentblock, a target difficulty for the cryptographic hash of the most recentblock, and a timestamp, the new block becoming a new most recent blockof the principal series of blocks; generate a new cryptographic hash(e.g., a new block digest) of the new block of the of the principalseries of blocks using a new nonce and complying with the targetdifficulty for the cryptographic hash of the new block; store the newcryptographic hash and the new nonce in the new block; and transmit to afirst neighbor computing system, over a communication network via anetwork interface, the new cryptographic hash of the new block and thenew nonce for the cryptographic hash of the new block to cross-merkelizethe principal blockchain with a first participating neighbor blockchainon the first neighbor computing system.

Example 2. The system of Example 1, wherein the cryptographic hash ofeach block of the principal blockchain is generated by a one-way securehashing algorithm.

Example 3. The system of Example 1, wherein the cryptographic hashcomprises a binary hash tree, wherein the cryptographic hash resultsfrom concatenation with a nonce to form an input string for a one-waycryptographic function, the output of which complies with a targetdifficulty that comprises a rule specifying a compliant cryptographichash.

Example 4. The system of Example 3, wherein the rule indicates aparticular collection of one or more binary values in specifiedpositions of the compliant cryptographic hash.

Example 5. The system of Example 1, wherein the one or more processorsare further to receive from the first neighbor computing system acryptographic hash, a corresponding nonce, and a collection ofcryptographic hashes of a most recent block of a first neighbor seriesof blocks.

Example 6. The system of Example 5, wherein the cryptographic hash ofeach block of the first participating neighbor blockchain is generatedby a one-way secure hashing algorithm.

Example 7. The system of Example 5, wherein the collection ofcryptographic hashes comprises at least a cryptographic hash of a mostrecent block of the principal blockchain.

Example 8. The system of Example 5, wherein the collection ofcryptographic hashes comprises at least a cryptographic hash of a mostrecent block of a second participating neighbor blockchain.

Example 9. The system of Example 5, wherein the one or more processorsare further to create a next block of the principal series of blocks,the next block linked to the new most recent block by including the newcryptographic hash (of the new most recent block) and the new nonce (forthe cryptographic hash of the new most recent block), the next blockalso including the cryptographic hash (and the corresponding nonce) ofthe most recent block of the first neighbor series of blocks (of thefirst participating neighbor blockchain implemented on the firstneighbor computing system).

Example 10. The system of Example 5, wherein the one or more processorsare further to store a principal event log including an ordered listingof event records each corresponding to a transaction record of therecord data stored in the principal series of blocks of the principalblockchain.

Example 11. The system of Example 10, wherein the one or more processorsare further to: record to the principal event log an event recordindicating creation of the new block; and record to the principal eventlog an event record corresponding to the most recent block of the firstneighbor series of blocks of the first participating neighborblockchain, upon receiving the cryptographic hash and the correspondingnonce of the most recent block of the first neighbor series of blocks ofthe first participating neighbor blockchain.

Example 12. The system of Example 10, wherein the one or more processorsare further to: identify a transaction record of the record data ascorresponding to an event; and record to the principal event log anevent record corresponding to the event.

Example 13. The system of Example 1, wherein the one or morecomputer-readable storage media are further to store a principal eventlog including an ordered listing of event records each corresponding toa transaction record included in the record data of the principalblockchain, wherein the one or more processors are further to record tothe principal event log an event record indicating creation of the newblock.

Example 14. The system of Example 13, the one or more processors furtherto: receive (e.g., from first neighbor computing system over acommunication network via a network interface) at least a portion of afirst neighbor event log; compare the principal event log with the firstneighbor event log; and ensure that an earliest appearance of each blockis reflected in the principal event log based on the comparison.

Example 15. The system of Example 14, the one or more processors furtherto: re-order event entries of the principal event log based on thecomparison and/or based on an earlier entry in one of the principalevent log and the neighbor event log for each event record.

Example 16. The system of Example 1, wherein the first neighborcomputing system is in electronic communication with the system andimplements a first participating neighbor blockchain comprising a firstneighbor series of blocks that are chronologically linked, a most recentblock of the first neighbor series of blocks including a cryptographichash (e.g., a block digest) of the most recent block, a nonce for thecryptographic hash of the most recent block, and a cryptographic hash ofa sequentially prior block of the first neighbor series of blocks (andoptionally a nonce for the cryptographic hash of the sequentially priorblock of the first neighbor series of blocks).

Example 17. The system of Example 16, the most recent block of the firstneighbor series of blocks further including the cryptographic hash ofthe most recent block of the first principal series of blocks and anonce for the cryptographic hash of the most recent block of the firstprincipal series of blocks to cross-merkelize the principal blockchainwith the first participating neighbor blockchain.

Example 18. The system of Example 1, wherein the one or more processorsare further to transmit to a second neighbor computing system (e.g.,over a communication network via a network interface) the newcryptographic hash (of the new block) and the new nonce (for thecryptographic hash of the new block) to cross-merkelize the principalblockchain with a second participating neighbor blockchain on the secondneighbor computing system.

Example 19. The system of Example 18, wherein the one or more processorsare further to receive from the second neighbor computing system acryptographic hash, a corresponding nonce, and a collection ofcryptographic hashes of a most recent block of a second neighbor seriesof blocks of a second participating neighbor blockchain implemented onthe second neighbor computing system.

Example 20. The system of Example 1, wherein the record data comprises aplurality of transaction records.

Example 21. A distributed electronic record system providing immutablerecord keeping (which may provide an immutable record of an order ofevents and/or which may provide provable ordering of events),comprising: a principal computing system implementing a principalblockchain to store record data in a principal series of blocks that arechronologically linked, wherein a most recent block of the principalseries of blocks includes a cryptographic hash (e.g., block digest) ofthe most recent block of the principal series of blocks, a nonce for thecryptographic hash of the most recent block of the principal series ofblocks, a cryptographic hash of a sequentially prior block of theprincipal series of blocks (and optionally a nonce for the cryptographichash of the sequentially prior block of the principal series of blocks),and a portion of the record data; a first neighbor computing system inelectronic communication with the principal computing system over acommunication network, the first neighbor computing system implementinga first participating neighbor blockchain comprising a first neighborseries of blocks that are chronologically linked, wherein a most recentblock of the first neighbor series of blocks includes a cryptographichash of the most recent block of the first neighbor series of blocks, anonce for the cryptographic hash of the most recent block of the firstneighbor series of blocks, a cryptographic hash of a sequentially priorblock of the first neighbor series of blocks (and optionally a nonce forthe cryptographic hash of the sequentially prior block of the firstneighbor series of blocks), wherein the principal computing system isto: create a new block of the principal series of blocks to store newrecord data, the new block linked to the most recent block of theprincipal series of blocks by inclusion of the cryptographic hash (e.g.,a block digest) of the most recent block of the principal series ofblocks (and optionally the nonce for the cryptographic hash of the mostrecent block of the principal series of blocks), the new block becominga new most recent block of the principal series of blocks; generate anew cryptographic hash (e.g., a proof-of-work digest) of the new blockof the of the principal series of blocks using a new nonce (andcomplying with the target difficulty for the cryptographic hash of thenew block), the new cryptographic hash and the new nonce stored in thenew block; and transmit to the first neighbor computing system (e.g.,over a communication network via a network interface) the newcryptographic hash of the new block and the new nonce for thecryptographic hash of the new block to cross-merkelize the principalblockchain with the first participating neighbor blockchain.

Example 22. The system of Example 21, wherein the cryptographic hash ofeach block of the principal blockchain is generated by a one-way securehashing algorithm, and wherein the cryptographic hash of each block ofthe first participating neighbor blockchain is generated by a one-waysecure hashing algorithm.

Example 23. The system of Example 21, the most recent block of the firstneighbor series of blocks further including the cryptographic hash ofthe most recent block of the principal series of blocks and the noncefor the cryptographic hash of the most recent block of the firstprincipal series of blocks.

Example 24. The system of Example 21, the most recent block of theprincipal series of blocks further including the cryptographic hash ofthe most recent block of the first neighbor series of blocks and thenonce for the cryptographic hash of the most recent block of the firstneighbor series of blocks.

Example 25. The system of Example 21, wherein the first neighborcomputing system is further to transmit to the principal computingsystem the cryptographic hash and the corresponding nonce of the mostrecent block of the first neighbor series of blocks of the firstparticipating neighbor blockchain implemented on the first neighborcomputing system.

Example 26. The system of Example 21, wherein the principal computingsystem is further to receive from the first neighbor computing system acryptographic hash and a corresponding nonce of the most recent block ofthe first neighbor series of blocks of the first participating neighborblockchain implemented on the first neighbor computing system.

Example 27. The system of Example 21, wherein the first neighborcomputing system is to: create a new neighbor block of the firstneighbor series of blocks, the new neighbor block linked to the mostrecent block of the first neighbor series of blocks by inclusion of thecryptographic hash of the most recent block of the first neighbor seriesof blocks (and the nonce for the cryptographic hash of the most recentblock of the first neighbor series of blocks), the new block becoming anew most recent block of the principal series of blocks; generate a newcryptographic hash of the new block of the of the first neighbor seriesof blocks using a new nonce and complying with the target difficulty forthe cryptographic hash of the new block, the new cryptographic hash andthe new nonce stored in the new neighbor block; and transmit to theprincipal computing system (e.g., over a communication network via anetwork interface) the new cryptographic hash of the new neighbor blockand the new nonce for the cryptographic hash of the new neighbor blockto cross-merkelize the first participating neighbor blockchain with theprincipal blockchain. The first neighbor computing system can furtherstore in the new neighbor block the new cryptographic hash of the newblock of the principal series of blocks and the new nonce for thecryptographic hash of the new block of the principal series of blocks tocross-merkelize the principal blockchain with a first participatingneighbor blockchain on the first neighbor computing system.

Example 28. The system of Example 21, further comprising: a secondneighbor computing system in electronic communication with the principalcomputing system and/or the first neighbor computing system over acommunication network, the second neighbor computing system implementinga second participating neighbor blockchain comprising a second neighborseries of blocks that are chronologically linked, wherein a most recentblock of the second neighbor series of blocks includes a cryptographichash of the most recent block of the second neighbor series of blocks, anonce for the cryptographic hash of the most recent block of the secondneighbor series of blocks, a cryptographic hash of a sequentially priorblock of the second neighbor series of blocks (and optionally a noncefor the cryptographic hash of the sequentially prior block of the secondneighbor series of blocks), wherein the principal computing system isfurther to transmit to the second neighbor computing system (e.g., overa communication network via a network interface) the new cryptographichash of the new block and the new nonce for the cryptographic hash ofthe new block to cross-merkelize the principal blockchain with thesecond participating neighbor blockchain.

Example 29. The system of Example 28, wherein the first neighborcomputing system is further to transmit to the second neighbor computingsystem the cryptographic hash and the corresponding nonce of the mostrecent block of the first neighbor series of blocks of the firstparticipating neighbor blockchain implemented on the first neighborcomputing system.

Example 30. The system of Example 28, wherein the principal computingsystem is further to receive from the second neighbor computing system acryptographic hash and a corresponding nonce of the most recent block ofthe second neighbor series of blocks of the second participatingneighbor blockchain implemented on the second neighbor computing system.

Example 31. The system of Example 28, wherein the second neighborcomputing system is further to receive from the principal computingsystem a cryptographic hash and a corresponding nonce of the most recentblock of the principal series of blocks of the first participatingneighbor blockchain implemented on the principal computing system, andwherein the second neighbor computing system is further to receive fromthe first neighbor computing system a cryptographic hash and acorresponding nonce of the most recent block of the first neighborseries of blocks of the first participating neighbor blockchainimplemented on the first neighbor computing system.

Example 32. A method of providing immutable record keeping (e.g., oftransaction records) (and/or an immutable record of an order of eventsand/or provable ordering of events), comprising: establishing orotherwise implementing a principal blockchain on a principal computingsystem, the principal blockchain to store transaction records in aprincipal series of blocks that are stored on one or morecomputer-readable storage media of the principal computing system andthat are chronologically linked, a most recent block of the principalseries of blocks including a cryptographic hash (e.g., e.g., aproof-of-work (POW) digest) of the most recent block, a nonce for thecryptographic hash of the most recent block, a cryptographic hash of asequentially prior block, and a portion of the transaction records;creating a new block of the principal series of blocks to store newtransaction records, the new block linked to the most recent block byincluding the cryptographic hash (e.g., a block digest) of the mostrecent block (and optionally the nonce for the cryptographic hash of themost recent block), the new block becoming a new most recent block ofthe principal series of blocks; generating a new cryptographic hash(e.g., a new POW digest) of the new block of the of the principal seriesof blocks using a new nonce (and complying with the target difficultyfor the cryptographic hash of the new block); storing the newcryptographic hash and the new nonce in the new block; and transmittingto a first neighbor computing system (e.g., over a communication networkvia a network interface) the new cryptographic hash of the new block andthe new nonce for the cryptographic hash of the new block tocross-merkelize the principal blockchain with a first participatingneighbor blockchain on the first neighbor computing system.

Example 33. A system (e.g., a principal computing) providing immutablerecord keeping (e.g., of transaction records and/or of an order ofevents), or otherwise providing provable ordering of events, comprising:one or more computer-readable storage media to store a principalblockchain to store transaction records in a principal series of blocksthat are chronologically linked, a most recent block of the principalseries of blocks including a proof-of-work (POW) digest (which isgenerated by cryptographically hashing a block digest (of the mostrecent block) with a nonce to achieve (comply with) a target difficulty,a block digest of a sequentially prior block, and a portion of thetransaction records; one or more processors in electrical communicationwith the one or more computer-readable storage media and configured toimplement a protocol of the principal blockchain, the one or moreprocessors to: create a new block of the principal series of blocks tostore new transaction records, the new block linked to the most recentblock by including a cryptographic hash (e.g., a block digest) of themost recent block, the new block to become a new most recent block ofthe principal series of blocks; generate a records digest (e.g., amerkel root) of the new transaction records by cryptographically hashingthe new transaction records; generate a block digest of the new block bycryptographically hashing the records digest with a new nonce; generatea new POW digest of the new block by cryptographically hashing the blockdigest of the new block with the new nonce to achieve (or otherwisecomply with) a target difficulty; store the new POW digest, the newnonce, and the records digest of the new block in the new block; andtransmit to a first neighbor computing system (e.g., over acommunication network via a network interface) a header of the newblock, the header comprising the new POW digest of the new block, thenew nonce, and the records digest to cross-merkelize the principalblockchain with a first participating neighbor blockchain on the firstneighbor computing system.

Example 34. The system of Example 33, wherein the one or more processorsare further to receive from the first neighbor computing system (e.g.,over a communication network via a network interface) a header of a mostrecent first neighbor block of the first participating neighborblockchain on the first neighbor computing system, the header comprisinga POW digest of a most recent first neighbor block of a firstparticipating neighbor blockchain on the first neighbor computingsystem, a nonce of the most recent first neighbor block, and a recordsdigest of the most recent first neighbor block to cross-merkelize thefirst participating neighbor blockchain with the principal blockchain.

Example 35. The system of Example 34, wherein the one or more processorsare further to create a next block of the principal series of blocks,the next block linked to the new most recent block by including the newPOW digest of the new block, the new nonce, and the records digest, thePOW digest of the most recent first neighbor block, the nonce of themost recent first neighbor block, and a records digest of the mostrecent first neighbor block.

Example 36 The system of Example 33, wherein the one or more processorsare further to maintain (e.g., in a computer readable storage medium) aprincipal event log including an ordered listing of event records eachcorresponding to a transaction record of the transaction records storedin the principal series of blocks of the principal blockchain.

Example 37. The system of Example 36, wherein the one or more processorsare further to record to the principal event log an event recordindicating creation of the new block.

Example 38. The system of Example 36, the one or more processors furtherto: receive, from the first neighbor computing system (e.g., over acommunication network via a network interface), at least a portion of afirst neighbor event log; compare the principal event log with the firstneighbor event log; and ensure that an earliest appearance of each eventrecord (e.g., an event record of a new block) is reflected in theprincipal event log based on the comparison.

Example 39. The system of Example 38, the one or more processors furtherto: re-order event entries of the principal event log based on thecomparison and/or based on an earlier entry in one of the principalevent log and the neighbor event log for each event record.

Example 40. A method of providing immutable record keeping (e.g., oftransaction records and/or of an order of events), or otherwiseproviding provable ordering of events, comprising: establishing orotherwise implementing (a protocol of) a principal blockchain on aprincipal computing system, the principal blockchain to storetransaction records in a principal series of blocks that are stored onone or more computer-readable storage media of the principal computingsystem and that are chronologically linked, a most recent block of theprincipal series of blocks including a proof-of-work (POW) digest (whichis generated by cryptographically hashing a block digest (of the mostrecent block) with a nonce to achieve (or otherwise comply with) atarget difficulty, a block digest of a sequentially prior block, and aportion of the transaction records; creating a new block of theprincipal series of blocks to store new transaction records, the newblock linked to the most recent block by including a cryptographic hash(e.g., a block digest) of the most recent block, the new block becominga new most recent block of the principal series of blocks; generating anew records digest (merkel root) of the new transaction records bycryptographically hashing the new transaction records; generating a newblock digest of the new block by cryptographically hashing the newrecords digest with a new nonce; generating a new POW digest of the newblock by cryptographically hashing a block digest of the new block witha new nonce to achieve (or otherwise comply with) a target difficulty;storing the new POW digest, the new nonce, and the new records digest inthe new block; and transmitting to a first neighbor computing system(e.g., over a communication network via a network interface) a header ofthe new block, the header comprising the new POW digest of the newblock, the new nonce, and the new records digest to cross-merkelize theprincipal blockchain with a first participating neighbor blockchain onthe first neighbor computing system.

Example 41. A distributed electronic record system providing immutablerecord keeping, comprising: a principal blockchain to store record datain a principal series of blocks that are chronologically linked, whereina most recent block of the principal series of blocks includes acryptographic hash of the most recent block, a nonce for thecryptographic hash of the most recent block, a cryptographic hash of asequentially prior block, and a portion of the record data; a firstparticipating neighbor blockchain comprising a first neighbor series ofblocks that are chronologically linked, wherein a most recent block ofthe first neighbor series of blocks includes a cryptographic hash of themost recent block of the first neighbor series of blocks, a nonce forthe cryptographic hash of the most recent block of the first neighborseries of blocks, and a cryptographic hash of a sequentially prior blockof the first neighbor series of blocks, wherein the principal blockchainis to: create a new block of the principal series of blocks to store newrecord data, the new block linked to the most recent block of theprincipal series of blocks by inclusion of the cryptographic hash of themost recent block of the principal series of blocks, the new blockbecoming a new most recent block of the principal series of blocks;generate a new cryptographic hash of the new block of the of theprincipal series of blocks using a new nonce, the new cryptographic hashand the new nonce stored in the new block; and transmit to the firstparticipating neighbor blockchain the new cryptographic hash and the newnonce.

Example 42. A system providing immutable record keeping, comprising: aprincipal blockchain to store transaction records in a principal seriesof blocks that are chronologically linked, wherein a most recent blockof the principal series of blocks includes a proof-of-work (POW) digest,a block digest of a sequentially prior block, and a portion of thetransaction records; a first participating neighbor blockchaincomprising a first neighbor series of blocks that are chronologicallylinked, wherein a most recent block of the first neighbor series ofblocks includes a proof-of-work (POW) digest of the most recent block ofthe first neighbor series of blocks and a block digest of a sequentiallyprior block of the first neighbor series of blocks; wherein theprincipal blockchain is to: create a new block of the principal seriesof blocks to store new transaction records, the new block linked to themost recent block by including a block digest of the most recent block,the new block to become a new most recent block of the principal seriesof blocks; generate a records digest (merkel root) of the newtransaction records; generate a new POW digest of the new block bycryptographically hashing a block digest of the new block with a newnonce; store the new POW digest, the new nonce, and the records digestof the new block in the new block; and transmit to the firstparticipating neighbor blockchain the new POW digest, the new nonce, andthe records digest.

Example 43. The system of Example 41, wherein the principal blockchainis further to receive from the first participating neighbor blockchain aPOW digest of a most recent first neighbor block of the firstparticipating neighbor blockchain, a nonce of the most recent firstneighbor block, and a records digest of the most recent first neighborblock.

Example 44. The system of Example 43, wherein the principal blockchainis further to create a next block of the principal series of blocks, thenext block linked to the new most recent block by including the blockdigest of the new block, the new nonce of the new block, and the recordsdigest of the new block, and wherein a next block including the POWdigest of the most recent first neighbor block, the nonce of the mostrecent first neighbor block, and the records digest of the most recentfirst neighbor block.

Example 45. The system of Example 41, further comprising a vector clockcomprising: a principal event log including an ordered listing of eventrecords each corresponding to a transaction record of the transactionrecords stored in the principal series of blocks of the principalblockchain; and a first participating neighbor event log including anordered listing of event records each corresponding to a transactionrecord of the transaction records stored in the first neighbor series ofblocks of the first participating neighbor blockchain, wherein thevector clock compares the principal event log with the first neighborevent log and ensures an earliest appearance of each event record isreflected in the principal event log.

Example 46. The system of Example 45, wherein the vector clock isconfigured to re-order event records of the principal event log based onthe comparison.

Example 47. The system of Example 45, wherein the one or more processorsare further to record (e.g., to the principal event log) an event recordindicating creation of the new block.

Example 48. A system providing an immutable record to enable provableordering of events, comprising: a principal blockchain (on a principalcomputing system) to store transaction records in a principal series ofblocks that are chronologically linked, wherein a most recent block ofthe principal series of blocks includes a proof-of-work (POW) digest, ablock digest of a sequentially prior block, and a portion of thetransaction records; a principal event log (on the principal computingsystem) including an ordered listing of event records each correspondingto a transaction record of the transaction records stored in theprincipal series of blocks of the principal blockchain; a firstparticipating neighbor blockchain (on a first participating neighborcomputing system) comprising a first neighbor series of blocks that arechronologically linked, wherein a most recent block of the firstneighbor series of blocks includes a proof-of-work (POW) digest of themost recent block of the first neighbor series of blocks and a blockdigest of a sequentially prior block of the first neighbor series ofblocks; a first participating neighbor event log (on the firstparticipating neighbor computing system) including an ordered listing ofevent records each corresponding to a transaction record of thetransaction records stored in the first neighbor series of blocks of thefirst participating neighbor blockchain; and a vector clock to comparesthe principal event log with the first neighbor event log and ensures anearliest appearance of each event record is reflected in the principalevent log, wherein the principal blockchain is to: create a new block ofthe principal series of blocks to store new transaction records, the newblock linked to the most recent block by including a block digest of themost recent block, the new block to become a new most recent block ofthe principal series of blocks; generate a records digest (merkel root)of the new transaction records; generate a new POW digest of the newblock by cryptographically hashing a block digest of the new block witha new nonce; store the new POW digest, the new nonce, and the recordsdigest of the new block in the new block; record in the principal eventlog an event record corresponding to the creation of the new block; andtransmit to the first participating neighbor blockchain the new POWdigest, the new nonce, and the records digest.

Example 49. A principal computing system providing an immutable recordto enable provable ordering of events, comprising: one or morecomputer-readable storage media to store: a principal blockchain tostore transaction records in a principal series of blocks that arechronologically linked, a most recent block of the principal series ofblocks including a proof-of-work (POW) digest (which is generated bycryptographically hashing a block digest (of the most recent block) witha nonce to achieve (comply with) a target difficulty, a block digest ofa sequentially prior block, and a portion of the transaction records;and a principal event log including an ordered listing of event recordseach corresponding to a transaction record of the transaction recordsstored in the principal series of blocks of the principal blockchain;and one or more processors in electrical communication with the one ormore computer-readable storage media and configured to implement aprotocol of the principal blockchain, the one or more processors to:receive from a first neighbor computing system a POW digest of a mostrecent block of a first neighbor series of blocks of a firstparticipating neighbor blockchain implemented on the first neighborcomputing system, a corresponding nonce of the POW digest of the mostrecent block of the first neighbor series of blocks, and a recordsdigest of the most recent block of the first neighbor series of blocks;create a new block of the principal series of blocks to store newtransaction records including the POW digest of the most recent block ofthe first neighbor series of blocks, the corresponding nonce of the POWdigest of the most recent block of the first neighbor series of blocks,and the records digest of the most recent block of the first neighborseries of blocks, wherein the new block is linked to the most recentblock by including a cryptographic hash (e.g., a block digest) of themost recent block, the new block to become a new most recent block ofthe principal series of blocks; generate a records digest (e.g., amerkel root) of the new transaction records by cryptographically hashingthe new transaction records, including the POW digest of the most recentblock of the first neighbor series of blocks, the corresponding nonce ofthe POW digest of the most recent block of the first neighbor series ofblocks, and the records digest of the most recent block of the firstneighbor series of blocks; generate a block digest of the new block bycryptographically hashing . . . the records digest with a new nonce;generate a new POW digest of the new block by cryptographically hashinga block digest of the new block with the new nonce to achieve (complywith) a target difficulty; store the new POW digest, the new nonce, andthe records digest of the new block in the new block; record in theprincipal event log an event record corresponding to the creation of thenew block; compare the principal event log with a first neighbor eventlog and ensure an earliest appearance of each event record is reflectedin the principal event log, the first neighbor event log including anordered listing of event records each corresponding to a transactionrecord of the transaction records stored in the first neighbor series ofblocks of the first participating neighbor blockchain implemented on thefirst neighbor computing system; and transmit to a first neighborcomputing system (e.g., over a communication network via a networkinterface) the new POW digest of the new block, the new nonce, and therecords digest to cross-merkelize the principal blockchain with a firstparticipating neighbor blockchain on the first neighbor computingsystem. The described features, operations, or characteristics may bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurationsand/or combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Thus,the detailed description of the embodiments of the systems and methodsis not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, as claimed, but ismerely representative of possible embodiments of the disclosure. Inaddition, it will also be readily understood that the order of the stepsor actions of the methods described in connection with the embodimentsdisclosed may be changed as would be apparent to those skilled in theart. Thus, any order in the drawings or Detailed Description is forillustrative purposes only and is not meant to imply a required order,unless specified to require an order.

Embodiments may include various steps, which may be embodied inmachine-executable instructions to be executed by a general-purpose orspecial-purpose computer (or other electronic device). Alternatively,the steps may be performed by hardware components that include specificlogic for performing the steps, or by a combination of hardware,software, and/or firmware.

Embodiments may also be provided as a computer program product includinga computer-readable storage medium having stored instructions thereonthat may be used to program a computer (or other electronic device) toperform processes described herein. The computer-readable storage mediummay include, but is not limited to: hard drives, floppy diskettes,optical disks, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magneticor optical cards, solid-state memory devices, or other types ofmedium/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronicinstructions.

As used herein, a software module or component may include any type ofcomputer instruction or computer executable code located within a memorydevice and/or computer-readable storage medium. A software module may,for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks ofcomputer instructions, which may be organized as a routine, program,object, component, data structure, etc., that performs one or more tasksor implements particular abstract data types.

In certain embodiments, a particular software module may comprisedisparate instructions stored in different locations of a memory device,which together implement the described functionality of the module.Indeed, a module may comprise a single instruction or many instructions,and may be distributed over several different code segments, amongdifferent programs, and across several memory devices. Some embodimentsmay be practiced in a distributed computing environment where tasks areperformed by a remote processing device linked through a communicationsnetwork. In a distributed computing environment, software modules may belocated in local and/or remote memory storage devices. In addition, databeing tied or rendered together in a database record may be resident inthe same memory device, or across several memory devices, and may belinked together in fields of a record in a database across a network.

The foregoing specification has been described with reference to variousembodiments, including the best mode. However, those skilled in the artappreciate that various modifications and changes can be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure and the underlyingprinciples of the invention. Accordingly, this disclosure is to beregarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and allsuch modifications are intended to be included within the scope thereof.Likewise, benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems havebeen described above with regard to various embodiments. However,benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeature or element.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list ofelements does not include only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. Also, as used herein, the terms “coupled,”“coupling,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover aphysical connection, an electrical connection, a magnetic connection, anoptical connection, a communicative connection, a functional connection,and/or any other connection.

Recitation in the claims of the term “first” with respect to a featureor element does not necessarily imply the existence of a second oradditional such feature or element. Principles of the present disclosuremay be reflected in a computer program product on a tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program codemeans embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readablestorage medium may be utilized, including magnetic storage devices (harddisks, floppy disks, and the like), optical storage devices (CD-ROMs,DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and the like), flash memory, and/or the like. Thesecomputer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionsthat execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified. Thesecomputer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readablememory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processingapparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructionsstored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufactureincluding instruction means which implement the function specified. Thecomputer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified.

Principles of the present disclosure may be reflected in a computerprogram implemented as one or more software modules or components. Asused herein, a software module or component (e.g., engine, system,subsystem) may include any type of computer instruction orcomputer-executable code located within a memory device and/orcomputer-readable storage medium. A software module may, for instance,comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computerinstructions, which may be organized as a routine, a program, an object,a component, a data structure, etc., that perform one or more tasks orimplement particular data types.

In certain embodiments, a particular software module may comprisedisparate instructions stored in different locations of a memory device,which together implement the described functionality of the module.Indeed, a module may comprise a single instruction or many instructions,and may be distributed over several different code segments, amongdifferent programs, and across several memory devices. Some embodimentsmay be practiced in a distributed computing environment where tasks areperformed by a remote processing device linked through a communicationsnetwork. In a distributed computing environment, software modules may belocated in local and/or remote memory storage devices. In addition, databeing tied or rendered together in a database record may be resident inthe same memory device, or across several memory devices, and may belinked together in fields of a record in a database across a network.

Suitable software to assist in implementing the invention is readilyprovided by those of skill in the pertinent art(s) using the teachingspresented here and programming languages and tools, such as Java,Pascal, C++, C, database languages, APIs, SDKs, assembly, firmware,microcode, and/or other languages and tools.

Embodiments as disclosed herein may be computer-implemented in whole orin part on a digital computer. The digital computer includes a processorperforming the required computations. The computer further includes amemory in electronic communication with the processor to store acomputer operating system. The computer operating systems may include,but are not limited to, MS-DOS, Windows, Linux, UNIX, AIX, CLIX, QNX,OS/2, and Apple. Alternatively, it is expected that future embodimentswill be adapted to execute on other future operating systems.

In some cases, well-known features, structures or operations are notshown or described in detail. Furthermore, the described features,structures, or operations may be combined in any suitable manner in oneor more embodiments. It will also be readily understood that thecomponents of the embodiments as generally described and illustrated inthe figures herein could be arranged and designed in a wide variety ofdifferent configurations.

Various operational steps, as well as components for carrying outoperational steps, may be implemented in alternate ways depending uponthe particular application or in consideration of any number of costfunctions associated with the operation of the system, e.g., one or moreof the steps may be deleted, modified, or combined with other steps.

While the principles of this disclosure have been shown in variousembodiments, many modifications of structure, arrangements, proportions,the elements, materials and components, used in practice, which areparticularly adapted for a specific environment and operatingrequirements, may be used without departing from the principles andscope of this disclosure. These and other changes or modifications areintended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure.

The scope of the present invention should, therefore, be determined onlyby the following claims.

1. A system providing immutable record keeping, comprising: one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media to store a principalblockchain to store record data in a principal series of blocks that arechronologically linked; one or more processors in electricalcommunication with the one or more computer-readable storage media andconfigured to implement the principal blockchain, the one or moreprocessors to: create, based on a digest corresponding to a most recentblock of a first neighbor series of blocks at a first neighbor computingsystem, a new block of the principal series of blocks to store newrecord data, the new block linked with a most recent block of theprincipal series of blocks and associated with the most recent block ofthe first neighbor series of blocks, and the new block becoming a newmost recent block of the principal series of blocks; and transmit to afirst neighbor computing system at least a portion of the new mostrecent block of the principal series of blocks.